Now This Is Not The End (Arcola)

As the grandson of an Austrian Jewish emigre, Now This Is Not The End deals with a subject very close to my heart; the legacy of the holocaust.

Centring on three generations of women in the same family, it's a stirring if uneven examination of the present day ramifications of actions that occurred over 70 years ago in Nazi Germany.

Eighteen year-old Rosie (Jasmine Blackborow) has found love with an artist in Berlin, while back home in London her mother Susan (Wendy Nottingham) is dealing with grandmother Eva's (Brigit Forsyth) slide into dementia.

A hunt for an interview recorded years earlier containing recollections from Eva about her childhood creates further angst, especially when the tape is found and reveals more than Eva's husband Arnold bargained for.

Rose Lewenstein's play neatly gets to the heart of the survivor/descendant paradox – as Eva puts it, "Everybody told us to forget about it. Now we're all dying and everybody wants us to remember." But it doesn't always ring true, and the family's tensions at times seem vastly overblown.

Katie Lewis's production moves at a lick, coming in at just over an hour, and builds to a moving climax as Eva comes to terms with the emotional blockage regarding the fate of her Jewish father (beautifully performed by Forsyth).

There is clear potential in Lewenstein's writing abilities (the script was developed at the Royal Court) and her subject matter is a timely one; the generation of which my grandmother was a member is nearly gone forever. But it is not, it must not, be the end of their stories, and all efforts to preserve them should be applauded.

Now This Is Not The End continues at the Arcola until 27 June 2015